Mall bookstores have sought to do just that over the last few years. They have slashed their stock of actual books and instead have focused on shelving things o

Mall bookstores have sought to do just that over the last few years. They have slashed their stock of actual books and instead have focused on shelving things of more visual appeal: vinyl records, imported Japanese sets and other bric-a-brac, cute Kikkerland products, etc. In spite of developing that stock that looks nice, I don’t think it is enough to keep those stores afloat. People might walk in and look at that stuff, they might use the store as a “leisure” opportunity, but they don’t necessarily buy much. After all, a lot of those vinyl records and Kikkerland stuff is available online for much cheaper. Even if visitors do make a purchase from the brick-and-mortar shop, are enough of them doing it to pay the high rents on mall spaces? One large non-mall bookstore in my town went the route of moving away from selling purely books towards highlighting more attractive items. When even this was not enough to actually make money, they stayed afloat by turning a whole floor of the shop into a membership-based coworking space. Mall bookstores don’t have that luxury, again due to very constrained space.